


ghost

by Little Keplerette (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)



Category: Oxenfree
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/Little%20Keplerette
Summary: "So you can see him, and we can't, and he can mess with us and you can see him doing so.""Yeah.""And you will never tell us if he's up to anything unless he speaks through the radio himself and tells us if he's going to do something?""Pretty much.""That," Ren decides. "Is SO not fair."Michael gives him another ghostly wet willy in response, and Ren shrieks in alarm. Alex and Jonas double over in laughter.[au: michael is a spirit haunting alex; when she tunes in to a certain station, she finally sees him haunting her]





	

At first, he's in a haze of white. Nothingness spreads out all around him, endlessly unfurling, infinite, empty.

"Hello?" Michael calls out, into the blank space. He's walking, so it must have been a room he was in. If he had been floating he would have taken it for an anti-gravity room and he had been kidnapped by aliens or something, but there's something foreboding about his presence in the whiteness - he's all blues and browns, stark against the brightness, and if not for the fact that his shoes seemed to leave next to no scuff marks on whatever he was stepping on, he would have said he was in a loop inside the endless whiteness.

But that was impossible. Loops didn't exist in reality.

"Aaaaanyone in here?" Michael calls again, and once more, no one answers. He sighs, and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Figures."

And suddenly, he hears sobbing.

With a jolt, Michael starts to turn around, because he  _knows_ that voice, knows it like the back of his hand, knows it better than its owner knows it because he's heard it so many times before and would never get tired of it, and with a cry of "Alex?!" and a final spin on his heel, he faces where he had come from and suddenly he's in a cemetery, the leaves of autumn falling all around him. The wind is gentle, teasing some of the looser leaves off the branches of the trees nearby and scattering what leaves had already fallen into makeshift piles all over the place - but it doesn't affect Michael, not at all. Nary a hair on his head moved with the wind that blew through his locks.

_Weird._

Cemeteries are weird, really, and Camena's local graveyard was no exception, though it  _was_ pretty in the spring and fall. The gravestones, lined in orderly rows, all seemed to have bouquets or candles on them or near them, signalling that it was the season for mourning, for remembering the dead ones long gone, and idly, he wonders,  _Why am I here?_

"Alex... shh... I'm here, dude..."

_Ren?_

Michael perks up, and scans the environment before his gaze lands on Ren, embracing someone with a head full of teal hair, tied up in a tight ponytail.  _Alex!_

Of course, he's delighted - that's his sister over there, and her best friend! With a happy jog, Michael heads over to them, a grin on his face, only to slowly frown when he realizes that in Ren's arms, his sister - his only little sister - is sobbing, sobbing like Michael had eaten the last Oreo in the pack without informing her, like that one time she was  _really_ terrified of the storm when they were younger. It's a strange sight to see, especially since Michael knows Alex has grown up stronger emotionally, not crying as easily or as hard, and hesitantly, he reaches out. "Hey, Al-"

His hand passes right through the two best friends, and he recoils, eyes wide.

"Brrr, I felt a sudden chill go up, like, right here," Ren shivers, pointing to his arm. "Alex, you think maybe we've overstayed our welcome? It feels like the older ghosts around here want us out for Mike's welcoming party."

"S-shut up, Ren, Jesus..." Alex grumbles into his sleeve. "Inappropriate jokes, much?"

"With God as my witness, you'll never hear me joke about the dead again," Ren swears. "But, seriously, Alex, I'm a little freaked out right now, and I might just consume one of my-"

" _Don't."_

 _I... what..._ Michael stares at his hands, and only now notices that they're translucent.  _No... am... am I..._

**_Murky blackness._ **

**_The taste of lake water._ **

**_Bubbles._ **

**_Alex, arms outstretched, sinking deeper in to the water._ **

**_Fingers wrapping desperately around her smaller hand._ **

**_An arm, forcing her drowning body with all its might back up to shore._ **

**_More bubbles._ **

**_Choking._ **

**_And then... silence._ **

Michael lurches, and regurgitates water - dirty, murky lake water, though of course Ren and Alex don't see it - , and finally, he remembers. He remembers  _everything,_ and despite himself, he spits out some more water, feeling incredibly sick to the stomach.

He's dead.

He drowned saving Alex in Horn Lake.

His chest is warmed at first by the idea of saving his sister's life, because he had sworn from the beginning to always protect his little sister, no matter what, but then his mind hyperfocuses on the fact that he left his only sister alone, in their house, with their parents' dying relationship, and- oh God. Oh,  _God._

 _Clarissa. No, no, oh my God, Clarissa,_ Michael trembles, because he's left two of the most important girls in his life next to his mother all alone, and despite himself, he sinks to his knees, stirring up none of the leaves below him. His vision blurs with tears that don't, can't, won't fall, his fingers trying so hard to dig into the soil and leaves below but only passing through them, his whole body shaking as though an earthquake was rumbling within him, and it might as well be an earthquake, because the revelation that you're dead at the age of nineteen and a ghost to all you love is a world-shattering realization for anyone - Michael included.

Alex shifts in Ren's arms, and through the tears, Michael looks up to see her kneeling by a gravestone - his gravestone, no doubt, because as far as he's concerned, their grandparents are buried all the way back in their parents' country of origin and their parents are still alive and kicking and Alex doesn't have any other dead loved ones in this cemetery.

Alex's hands are shaking, as are her shoulders, and it takes a lot of effort to place a hand on the cold marble, but she does, tracing the letters spelling out his name with her fingers. Her gaze is tentative, lips turned down in a frown, until she presses her forehead against the cool stone.

"Goodbye, Mike," She whispers, the wind carrying her words over to her brother, and it's like she took a sledgehammer and  _slammed_ it on the dam that held back all of Michael's feelings with those two words, because Alex sounds so  _broken_ , so  _empty_ , so unlike the sister he knows and loves.

The tears finally fall.

No one notices a thing.

* * *

He's not quite sure if he's a ghost.

He's not floaty, but he's still dead, so maybe he's a different kind of ghost, the non-floaty kind of ghost. He's been following Alex for months now, hovering protectively around her like a guardian angel - er, guardian ghost, whatever -, loudly threatening anyone who messed with his little sister. Sure, they didn't hear him, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Right.

Alex, much to his relief, returned to her old self, somewhat. She was still in grief, certainly, but at least she was trying to keep herself together - for their mother's sake. Sometimes, though, he was forced to watch her climb up to his old attic room during the stormy nights and lie in his bed, among his sheets, clutching his pillow close to her, sobbing quietly, his red jacket draped over her body. He always laid down - or tried his best to - next to her, tried to embrace her despite his ghostliness, but all Alex felt was an unnatural cold - one that made her draw Michael's jacket closer to her body, and the pillow closer to her chest.

Those times always hurt.

On another related note, despite the fact that he wanted to see his girlfriend, see how she was, probably visit her often during the late nights, he found out he couldn't, not really, for some reason. Once, Alex - on Ren's insistence - had done some late night Googling on ghosts before Halloween, because of that one haunted house down the lane they wanted to mess around with, and Michael had learned from that that he had, essentially, unconsciously, chosen to haunt Alex, and by doing so, was bound to her, and was forced to be with her at all times, so even if he wanted to go out to check on Clarissa, he couldn't - she lived a block away and he was limited to the three yard radius around Alex.

Sometimes he sees Clarissa though, in school, and it's always a tearjerking affair on his end, because when he sees Clarissa, while he sees his beautiful, red haired firecracker, his thorny but still incredibly lovely rose, he also sees the bags under her eyes and the redness in them, the sluggishness in her step and the emptiness in her voice. She's still Clarissa, sarcastic, terrifying, Clarissa, but he was one of the few who could see that she was, at the very least, half-dead.

Like a part of her had died along with Michael.

He really wants to see her more, touch her cheek even though she'd only feel an unearthly chill, but Alex always seems to purposefully avoid her after a few awkward seconds whenever they encounter. She and Clarissa aren't on good terms - hasn't been since Michael's death - and it breaks his heart to see his sister and his girlfriend not comforting each other, not relating to the fact that they lost him together. He's literally been in the middle of one of their arguments, and from what he had gleaned, Clarissa blamed her for his death.

Yikes.

He's really, really glad for Ren, and Nona, Clarissa's best friend, though. They were there when he wasn't, holding up the two girls when it seemed like their world was crashing down all around them. Good Ren and Nona. Best friends.

_Thanks, you two._

* * *

"You brought the radio, right, Alex? Could you like, tune into the right frequency, or something? Carly's going to kick my ass if I don't tune into her tonight."

"Ooh, a radio, this had better be good," Michael comments from his seat on the railing of the boat to Edwards Island. He didn't like the yearly trip to Edwards Island to do God-knows-what, really - when it had been his turn to go, he had taken Clarissa because Alex had decided to sleep over at Ren's house that night and he didn't want to be alone on the beach with a bunch of drunk teenagers, and the two of them had spent most of the night just laughing to themselves on a flat rock that protruded from the edge of the cliff where Maggie Adler's house stood, the waves crashing now and then against their little alcove. It was fun, sure, being with Clarissa, but he knew that if he hadn't invited Clarissa, everything would've gone to hell in a pretty little gift basket.

Jonas leans over the railing and smokes a little more, and Michael's nose wrinkles up. He had decided he liked Jonas from the get go - he seemed nice, but he did have a smoking habit that Michael didn't particularly like. Otherwise, though, he was pretty cool - at first glance. Like Alex, he hadn't met the guy personally until the day they went to Edwards Island - today - , so he had to at least make a note of each quirk his sister's new stepbrother had.

Just in case, of course. Just in case.

Alex pulls out the radio, and examines it idly for a moment before turning the knob. Suddenly, something wrenches through Michael's gut, and he lurches, nearly tumbling into the sea, the only thing keeping him on the railing his connection to his sister. Unfortunately, this left him stuck in the boat's side, his torso inside the ship itself and his legs flailing helplessly on the side of the ship.

"Alex? What's wrong?" Ren asks in concern.

Alex's eyes are wide as she looks around in confusion before shaking her head, groaning. "Ugh, I just... I thought I heard something."

"Besides the sound of Carly slowly simmering in a pot of 'kill Ren' spices, there's, uh, nothing to make a sound, Alex," Ren points out, raising an eyebrow. "Try tuning into the station again."

Michael curses repeatedly, trying to wriggle his way out of the boat, when suddenly the seizing feeling in his chest returns as Alex turns the dial again, and he doubles up in pain, disappearing entirely inside the boat, pulling his legs to his che _whoa whoa whoa where the heck are his legs WHERE the **HECK ARE HIS LEGS-**_

Michael screams, because his whole lower half is now a squiggly ghost line reminiscent of the ones in movies, and because  _he can't feel his legs oh God is this what paralysis feels like oh my GOD-_

"Okay,  _now_ I'm hearing things," Alex curses, letting go of the dial.

Jonas raises an eyebrow. "Hearing things?"

"I thought I just- Ren, I might be going insane, don't throw me in the mental ward just yet- I  _think,"_ Alex stresses 'think'. "I just heard a screaming Michael."

Jonas, is, understandably, alarmed. Ren, however, not so much. "Alex, drowning people don't scream underwater. Or, maybe they do, but they can't be heard through all the water. Unless you've got incredible hearing?"

"No, I..." Alex is baffled. What  _had_ that sound been? "I just... okay, you know what, I might be hallucinating. I'll get on with the radio."

Michael, in his panic, floats through the boat's floor and positions himself immediately in between Alex and the two boys, just as Alex tunes in the radio to one specific station. Michael flashes, flickers, for a few moments, and at first he's terrified, because what if he was going to disappear right now? Alex and Clarissa still needed his presence, and fast-

"Alex? If you forgot, it's 88.3," Ren reminds. At his words, the girl grunts, still tuning into the right station, looking up to tell him that finding the station is kind of-

She stops. Completely.

 _Funny,_ Michael thinks.  _She kind of look like she's looking right at me._

Beat.

"Alex?" Ren asks with undisguised concern, and with a jolt, Michael realizes that he's standing between Jonas and Ren, and that Alex is staring  _directly at him._ She's strangely silent, her hand still poised on the radio dial, and it makes even Jonas discard his cigarette and crush it with his heel to place a hand on her shoulder awkwardly, asking, "Hey, uh... you okay there, Alex? You're kinda staring at nothing."

This seems to snap her out of it, because she blinks, shakes her head, and looks back up at Michael again.

He's still there.

Michael stares right back, and, on impulse, sticks out his tongue. The sudden action makes her blink rapidly, only to snort in laughter, and now  _both_ Ren and Jonas are alarmed.

"Alex, you didn't- did you-" Ren scrambles to open his backpack and check in on the brownies he had oh-so-carefully packed in, and counts them carefully, sighing in relief when the count matches up. "Okay, so you didn't get into my stash. That's good. I needed those."

Jonas is unimpressed. "Weed brownies, I take it?"

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess."

"Well, either way, drop the look of disdain, I need them to level me out, Jonas, work with me here," Ren argues before turning back to Alex. clapping his hands in front of her face. "Alex, for the love of all that is holy, snap out of whatever stupor you're in and tell me what a crazy Alex plus a concerned Ren plus a confused Jonas equals."

Michael shakes his head. "Don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question."

"Michael," Alex chokes out, amidst her laughter.

" _No,_ Alex, it equals 'padded room'," Ren stresses.

Alex's only response is a wheeze.

Her new stepbrother looks at Ren - looks through Alex's biological and ghostly brother and straight at Ren, panic flitting across his face. "Ren, I don't mean to make conclusions over here, but-"

"Jonas, I swear, she's not usually like this, it's usually me going hoppin' crazy," Ren admits ruefully.

Michael glances at his sister in concern and alarm, and in moments, Alex finally calms down enough to say, "I mean- Ren, I'm- I'm fine, it's just- Michael's- he's-"

"Dead as a doornail?" Ren offers.

Silence.

Alex's smile fades immediately as she scowls darkly at the blond, who raises his hands in a surrender, only to yelp with a "AUGH!" when Michael decides to lick his open palm in retaliation for making his sister scowl - and also because he wanted to see if he would feel it. A chill runs through his hand and up his spine at the ghostly contact that Michael didn't even know was possible, and at Ren's wild look aimed in her direction, Alex raises her own hands in surrender, claiming innocence.

"Okay, what just happened?" Jonas asks him. "You look like you just touched snail slime."

"I felt something  _cold and slimy_ on my palm, like, right here," Ren presses a finger to the center of the 'afflicted' palm. "Euuuurgh. Is a ghost messing with me?"

"Maybe, dude, you just made a dead joke."

"That wasn't even a- I was stating a fact!"

Michael drifts over to Alex, and for a moment, all is quiet on their side, Alex crossing her arms and examining her now ghostly brother from head to ghostly tail. The radio is still clutched tight in one of her hands, and brownish eyes meet faded brownish ones. Ren and Jonas, sensing something up with their companion, turn to her, about to ask a question, when suddenly, Michael's voice drifts out from the radio.

"Alex?"

Ren  _screeches_.

Michael winces and prays for Alex and Jonas's eardrums.

* * *

 

"I  _said_ I was  _sorry!_ " Ren whines.

Jonas kicks the back of his seat in response, replying sourly, " _Sorry_ doesn't repair my damaged eardrums, Ren."

"Well, excuse me for being terrified of the fact that my best friend's dead brother's voice just wafted through the radio!" Ren defends, turning to Alex. "Alex, you heard that too, right? Right?"

Alex snorts, and leans on her seat. "Michael's sitting right next to you, Ren. You should probably ask him if it was really him that spoke."

"AAAAHHH!" Ren screams, falling off the boat seat on his back, scrambling away from where he assumed Michael was, when in reality, Michael was floating right above him, snickering. His snickers waft through the radio, crackling through filters so that the other three could hear him, and Jonas cracks a smile upon hearing it. Ren, however, is not pleased. "He wasn't right next to me, was he?"

"He was floating right above you," Alex replies with a smile. "Ghosts don't sit."

"Sure we do!" Michael reprimands, and proceeds to sit on a chair, smiling widely at Alex. "Seeeeee-" He phases right through the chair, and through the ship, leaving only his head for Alex to see. "... oh."

Alex howls with laughter.

"What? What happened?" Jonas asks her curiously.

"I phased through the chair and now have my head sticking out of the boat's floor like a reverse ostrich," Michael's voice deadpans through the radio static. "And now my sister has been replaced with a hyena. Or a laughing wolf."

"Oh," Jonas makes a face, trying to imagine the scenario. "Yeah, that's kinda funny."

"It's  _hilarious_ if you knew what Michael looked like, Jonas," Ren agrees, sitting up, only to shriek at the cold, wet feeling suddenly in his ear. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"

Michael's laughter rings out through the radio in response, and Alex frowns at him, though the twinkle in her eyes is mischievous. "Mike, c'mon. That wasn't nice."

"It was hilarious though," Michael cackles.

"He gave Ren a wet willy," Alex tells the confused Ren and Jonas.

"What?! WHY?!" Ren wails.

"Why not?" Michael's voice is smug. "Besides, you can't see me anyway, right?"

"I can," Alex pipes up.

"We've already established that, Als."

Ren purses his lips. "So you can see him, and we can't, and he can mess with us and you can see him doing so."

"Yeah."

"And you will never tell us if he's up to anything unless he speaks through the radio himself and tells us if he's going to do something?"

"Pretty much."

"That," Ren decides. "Is SO not fair."

Michael gives him another ghostly wet willy in response, and Ren shrieks in alarm. Alex and Jonas double over in laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> idk if i feel like it i'll continue this but


End file.
